A first look: Sprint Mobile Broadband PCMCIA

The Sprint Mobile Broadband card from Pantech looks pretty much like any other PCMCIA card. But this card provides high-speed access to your mobile workforce without having to worry about the typical 802.11 wireless access points. In my hometown of Louisville, KY, the Sprint Mobile Broadband service covers the entire metropolitan area so I could go anywhere in town and never lose connection. Not bad for about $60 a month.

However, before you sign that two-year service contract make sure your area is covered. Sprint is adding areas all the time so you'll have to do some research to support your purchase before hand.

When the Sprint Mobile Broadband card is in its carrying case you cannot really tell what it is. Imagine the envy fellow travelers will have when you whip this out at the airport to surf the sports news.

Courtesy of the Sprint Mobile Broadband Web site comes this map of the Louisville-area coverage. As you can see, in the Louisville metropolitan area service is not a problem. But 50 miles into the surrounding state is more hit and miss.

Sprint and its partners are working to fill in the gaps, but it will take a while.

About Mark Kaelin

Mark Kaelin is a CBS Interactive Senior Editor for TechRepublic. He is the host for the Microsoft Windows and Office blog, the Google in the Enterprise blog, the Five Apps blog and the Big Data Analytics blog.

Full Bio

Mark Kaelin is a CBS Interactive Senior Editor for TechRepublic. He is the host for the Microsoft Windows and Office blog, the Google in the Enterprise blog, the Five Apps blog and the Big Data Analytics blog.